Will of the Noble Lion
by yiffcanceller
Summary: In a fateful, poorly-timed visit to Shiganshina, he loses his family to the fall of the district. When he meets Eren and co., he finds himself a comrade in Eren's dream crusade. This is the story of Reinhardt von Mackensen, an adventurous, yet stoic boy of noble birth. (May feature shipping later on!)
1. Prologue

1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. I counted the beat to the waltz. I watched as my father and my new mother danced for great joy across and around the ballroom amongst a variety of other family friends and wealthy family associates.

I, Reinhardt von Mackensen, was born in a little duchy in Wall Sina. My father, August, was the duke. My mother, Luna, was his wife, another noblewoman. She died of the plague when I was five.

Of course, the idea of having a whole family again excited me greatly. My father found love in a wealthy merchant's daughter, named Ciel, in Shiganshina district. Like the gentleman he was, they married in her hometown instead of his. Now was the after-party's dance.

The couple of the hour approached me. "You look bored, my boy," said my father. I was indeed bored, and wanted to dance. I had no partner. I expressed this complaint, and soon found myself clumsily dancing with my mother. I didn't mind the awkwardness caused by the gap in our heights and my lack of experience. I finally had a whole family after six long years of waiting!

…

Or so I thought. As my new loving mother and I danced, I heard a great, distant crack, a thundering boom near me, and blacked out.

* * *

I awoke to see nothing but death and destruction. I saw my mother, pinned under a boulder. I begged her to talk to me, to move, but I received nothing but a distant gaze.

It hit me, then. She was dead.

I looked around me to see that the ballroom was littered with debris. Everyone seemed to still be reeling in shock, which suggested I had not been out more than a matter of seconds, perhaps. An older man took my arm as the ballroom's inhabitants fled the building. At the corner of my eye, I saw that my father's seat at the banquet table had a boulder occupying it.

My mother's dead eyes, and the last sighting of my father before I got up to dance consumed my mind. Everything was numb, and then darkness.

* * *

I awoke on a rather densely occupied boat. The older man who took me from the building earlier noticed and turned me to face him. I saw the regret and pain in his eyes.

"Why? Why are my parents dead?" was all I could muster. I was lifeless, expressionless, empty.

"...I...son, look." mumbled the man. He was at a loss for words at I was. But he was pointing. I turned in the pointed direction.

An infestation was what I would call it today. An infestation, no, an invasion of those wretched, man-eating beasts. The city was flooded with Titans. There was a gaping hole in the city's once-proud gates. I put two and two together, and it was clear then that the rubble from the gate's destruction was what... did this to me.

"I'll kill them all...every last one of them!" said a voice next to me. It was a shorter boy about my age. Next to him, he had a girl, seemingly an Oriental, and a blonde haired boy nervously hearing his words. I approached them, needing answers. "Why are these...demons here? Why did they kill my family?" I asked.

The look of hurt in the eyes of the brown-haired boy and the girl told me their story. They suffered the same thing.

This trio, who uncomfortably briefed me on what happened, soon became my best friends. Eren was the brown-haired boy's name. The small blond was Armin, and finally the girl was Mikasa. Eren projected his incredible hatred for Titans into a rousing speech on how he was going to become a soldier and make good on his promise of annihilation of the monsters. So was I going to.

That fateful day, this sheltered boy became a lion.

A lion that would not be tamed.

* * *

 _Thanks for reading! Now, a few things I want to confirm before we get into Chapter One. Real chapters will usually be longer than this!_

 _Reinhardt:_

 _Is not a Titan Shifter._

 _Does not have any secret powers._

 _Is, however, an excellent and almost innate warrior._

 _I plan on him being somewhere around Mikasa's skill level, though most likely a little lower. If it feels right and not too ridiculously OP, he might be stronger. Just know that if he were a teammate in AOT 2, the game, he'd be an S-rank at the least._


	2. Ch 2: King of the Pride

**Mikasa's POV**

It was obvious to me that Reinhardt was still in mourning two years later. I could see it in the way his calm expression became one of pain and discomfort as he slept, and sense it in the many nights in which he could not sleep at all. He had a tendency of almost blocking out any mention of Shiganshina, and always dropped out of any conversation the four of us had whenever the concept of parents was even so much as glanced by.

Two years later, Eren, Armin, Reinhardt and I had become cadets. At our training came, the drill sergeant, Keith Sadies began shouting abuse into each individual soldier's face. He had mocked Armin's patriotism, lifted a shorter kid named Connie by the head, and screamed at some poor girl for eating. It was Reinhardt's turn, and I watched with concealed horror.

"What's your name, Four-Eyes?!" spat Sadies into the nobleman's face. He had a habit of fidgeting with his glasses, and did so with poor timing here.

Reinhardt responded only with his name and a polite 'sir' in a hushed tone. His surname seemed to draw attention from the other cadets, who murmured about it. The conversation continued.

"That sounds fancy, boy! Where the hell are you from, and why are you here?"

"Wall Sina interior, sir. Mackensen ducal lands. I am here to kill all the Titans, sir."

"Does that make you Jaeger's sidekick, you sheltered nothing?!"

I hated the way that Sadies spoke like that. He mocked both Reinhardt and Eren by saying that and it was gut-wrenching to me to stay quiet.

"I suppose it does, sir!"

Reinhardt had told me once that he didn't want to come across as spoiled. Maybe he had said this to make sure the other recruits thought he wasn't too spoiled.

After everyone received their share of abuse, we began our first bout of training. We were to spar in hand-to-hand combat. I thought it was weird, but moved on. I found my partner, some petite farmboy, and quickly beat him. I stared off into space for a while.

I heard Eren scream out in pain and began running to him. I saw that a small girl had hurt him, and then saw a rather large man get effortlessly taken down by the same girl. Then I saw Reinhardt was challenging her. I had to get to Eren, but I also needed to stop Reinhardt. As I ran, a memory resurfaced.

 _"Reinhardt, you can't run off like that. You had me worried." I exclaimed as I found Reinhardt walking around the village._

 _"I'm just tired of just relaying messages all day. I want to fight already."_

 _"You're just like Eren...you only have to put up with it for a little longer."_

 _"I know, I know...I went to the markets here and bought us some milk."_

Moments later, we walked through an alley and were jumped by a trio of scrappy kids. I had told Reinhardt to stay back and engaged them, but he joined in and showed that he was capable of protecting himself.

 _"You're strong, Reinhardt. But still, please be careful. I can't always be there for you. Eren's enough of a handful..."_

 _"Worry not, Mikasa. I don't plan on doing this too often." Reinhardt reassured me and chuckled._

Reinhardt told me of how he used to visit and stay with local lords as a way of coping with the loss of his parents. One of the lords had a son who was in the Military Police, and taught him some technique. I snapped back to reality and tended to Eren. Remembering that Reinhardt could fight, I decided to sit back and trust in him.

* * *

 **Annie's POV**

"You're staring. Do you want to fight or not?" I asked.

"Indeed," he said.

"Why does everyone want to fight me?" I complained to myself. He put his fists up and I sighed.

"I don't have a sparring partner. I don't have a choice in the matter as you're the only available one." he replied.

"Reinhardt, no! Don't do it! Annie's a monster!" Eren warned.

Well, whatever. I got in my stance, knife in hand, and pushed my hair out of my eyes. I decided I'd take this one out hard and make an example out of him before some fourth idiot decided they want to fight me. However, I knew it wouldn't be so easy. He looked a lot smarter than Reiner and calmer than Eren, after all.

"I thought you'd want me to take the knife." said my opponent.

So he watched my previous fights, then. He must believe that I either prefer the defensive or can only fight on the defensive. I didn't respond to him and began to slowly close in. He put his fists up. I charged into a pair of wimpy left-and-right jabs and blocked both of them, then countered with a knee to his stomach. He blocked, but only barely and stumbled back.

While it was annoying that he refused to make things easy like Reiner or Braun did by flinging their weight around. It was a bit entertaining to see my opponent's stoic glare turn to one of shock, just for a second. So, it all balanced out.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

Reinhardt had sorely underestimated his opponent. The 6'3" von Mackensen found himself being tossed around by an opponent that was only an inch taller than Christa. Annie's strength was rather unproportional for her size, which allowed her to punch up to far bigger opponents.

As Reinhardt was left reeling from Annie's attack. Annie took him head on with a low stance and a moderate jogging pace. Reinhardt threw out a large right hook to intercept, and kept his left up to defend his face. Annie quickly dodged to to left and jammed her fist in Reinhardt's stomach. She'd try to quickly poke the wooden knife to his neck, but Reinhardt was able to knock Annie's hand away despite his dazed state. He'd put his fists back up and waited. And waited… He never moved, and Annie frowned.

"Why aren't you attacking?" Annie asked, with a slight hint of irritation in her voice.

"I'm afraid I'm still coming to terms with the idea of striking a woman." replied Reinhardt in his usual bland tone. He pushed his glasses up.

Annie calmed down. "Coward... you don't have a choice. This is a spar."

"The idea that harming a lady is wrong was a fundamental tenet of my upbringing. I don't seek to hurt you." replied her opponent. "I didn't think this through, it seems."

Annie's facial expression became dark, lifeless, perhaps even evil. Reiner and Eren gulped.

"Reinhardt, run for your life!" Eren called out.

"You've done it now, Mackensen! Poundtown's out of the question - you're on your own!" Reiner shouted.

Reinhardt didn't seem to get it. Before he could even begin processing what happened, Annie's fist was lodged firmly deep into his cheek.

* * *

 **Reinhardt's POV**

Annie's lightning-quick barrage of savage blows set upon my visage with no quarter. I found myself quickly hitting the ground, and Annie pounced to try to finish me off with the knife. I managed to block, but only earned myself a bruised eye and more for it.

I had to get out of this somehow, and so I threw out my morals for just a bit. I was still not too interested in breaking the petite woman - not that I was even capable of doing that at the time - and so I sought to perhaps take her down in a single blow.

I felt something awaken in my mind and soul. I launched myself up (Annie, straddling my chest included - she appeared quite shocked), and my right arm flew out to my side. It reeled back, and my fist clenched. The clenched fist exploded forward with great power, and-

Contact. Annie's expression of moderate inconvenience and shocked turned into a deep grimace, and she was flung several feet away off of me. I basked in the moment briefly, then quickly attempted to disarm her while she was down. At the last moment, she lunged up at me, visibly bleeding from the mouth and with a welt on her cheek, and threw me back. She attempted to kick me down.

Checkmate! I quickly caught her kick and restrained the arm of hers that wielded a knife. She hit the ground, held in a painful hold that stretched her leg. I basked in this moment as well, but noticed she didn't look to be in much pain.

"Reinhardt, you forgot something. I'm a girl." Annie said. She'd quickly grapple me and slam me down to the ground.

 **Zounds!** I had forgotten to take the innate flexibility of most women into account. Moments later, the wooden knife was pressed to my neck, and I was defeated.

"I thought I had you there! Damn it." I cursed.

Eren laughed at my failure and stood next to me as I lay prone. "Nice try, sidekick!" he teased. I sighed and stifled a responsive chuckle of my own.

"Reinhardt, are you okay?" Mikasa asked. "You need to go to the infirmary."

"...I'll humor you, just this once." I replied. I looked at Annie, who was still straddling my chest. She was staring off into space. "Annie, you're still sitting on me."

In response, Annie quickly got off of me and walked with moderate haste away. I could see she was actually a tad embarrassed. Mikasa pulled me up and led me to the infirmary.

* * *

"He looks as if he was rammed by a boar!" nagged the doctor as they tended to Reinhardt's face.

"That's a really close guess." Eren jested. "Almost got her, almost. Maybe you'll get her next time.

Reinhardt gulped. "I wish there wasn't a next time, but it seems she's my sparring partner for now..." he mumbled.

* * *

 _Thanks for reading again! I hope to feature some romance in the future. If you could tell me who you think is Reinhardt's best match in the comments (and preferably adding why), I would appreciate it. Any of the 104th girls would work (no genderbenders). Who knows?_

 _Also, in case you didn't know: In the two year time-period between the fall of Shiganshina and when they became cadets, Eren and co. worked on a farm. However, with Reinhardt granting them noble connections, they're instead messengers working within Sina. It's a bit comfier but they're still just as eager to become soldiers._

 _This is my first crack at making a fanfiction, so constructive criticism is very much needed and appreciated. Go easy on me though, please!_


End file.
